Brian Laundrie's mom told her son she'd help him 'dispose of a body' in 'burn after reading' letter shared in Gabby Petito lawsuit

• Brian Laundrie's mother told her son in a now-public letter that she'd help him "dispose of a body."
• A judge ruled that the letter can be entered as evidence in a suit filed by Gabby Petito's parents.

Brian Laundrie's mother told her son — who confessed in a notebook before he died by suicide that he was responsible for the death of his fiancée Gabby Petito — that she'd help him "dispose of a body" and bake him a jailhouse cake in a "burn after reading" letter that has now been made public.

A Florida judge ruled on Wednesday that the letter can be entered as evidence in a civil lawsuit filed last year by Petito's parents against Brian Laundrie's parents in which Petito's parents allege that the Laundries secretly knew about their daughter's death.

Roberta Laundrie has said that she wrote the letter to her son before 23-year-old Brian Laundrie and 22-year-old Petito embarked on their doomed cross-country road trip in July 2021.

"I just want you to remember I will always love you and I know you will always love me," begins Roberta Laundrie's undated letter to Brian Laundrie, which was obtained by Insider.

The envelope that contained the letter instructed "burn after reading" in parentheses.

"If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags," continues the letter, which later appears to quote from the Bible.

Patrick Reilly, an attorney for Petito's parents, Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt, told reporters after Wednesday's court hearing that the letter written by Roberta Laundrie "clearly shows that she knew Gabby Petito was deceased."

"While Roberta Laundrie has suggested it was written before Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito left on their trip, a reasonable inference is that it was written after Gabby Petito was murdered, and is evidence that the Laundries and Attorney [Steven] Bertolino were aware of Gabby Petito's demise" when they released a September 14, 2021, statement in which they said they hoped Petito would be "reunited" with her family, Petito's family said in a statement released through their lawyers on Thursday.

The family added, "We look forward to having a jury determine when the letter was written at the time of trial."

Roberta Laundrie, in a statement through her attorney, told Insider: "The letter to Brian was written prior to Gabby and Brian leaving my home for their trip."

"I truly loved my son, and simply wanted to convey to him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him," the statement said. "Although I chose words that I thought would be impactful with Brian given our relationship, the letter was in no way related to Gabby."

Matthew Luka, an attorney for Roberta Laundrie and her husband, Chris Laundrie, told reporters on Wednesday that the letter "doesn't reference Gabby in any way which would be unlikely if it was written after what happened between Gabby and Brian, so that's our position and we believe the facts will eventually bear that out."

Petito went missing during the cross-country road trip, and her body was ultimately found in a Wyoming national forest in September 2021. A coroner ruled she was strangled to death.